Picked up some frags, and got lots of hitchhikers...What are these?

[pollywog]

I grabbed some zoas the other day, which came with baby shrimp, 4 brittle stars (that I can see), some green little worm thing that just slides between the zoas and hides, but there are two things in particular that I am most curious about.

The first I do not have a picture of, as I disturbed a lot of the sand doing landscaping/water change, but it appeared this morning inbetween some zoas. It is a long clearish worm looking thing, 3" in length, anchored with tail moving quite a lot and flowing in the water, with brilliant red hairs along its length, opposed from one another as if they are legs. As a complete newbie moron, I got worried about it being a weird type of bristle worm and tried to pluck it out with pliers. It split and two pieces got caught in the current from the powerheads. I can't see them now, but when I could see one it was squirming quite violently. What the hell is it?

The second specimen should be easier to identify. A baby starfish, but I do not recognize its colouring, and whether it will be reef safe or not. It looks green with a rust-red center.

Image here: http://i.imgur.com/N281Q.jpg

Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

[Chowder]

The worm with red hairs sounds like a bristle worm and the star fish is a Asterina starfish.

Chris

[pollywog]

Originally Posted by Chowder

The worm with red hairs sounds like a bristle worm and the star fish is a Asterina starfish.

Chris

Thank you so much! After you said that, I looked up pictures of younger bristleworms, and they look identical. I'll get rid of it if it hasn't been eaten or died yet.

[paddyob]

Bristle worms won't hurt anything. Scavengers. Eat waste food move detritus.

Leave them.

[Chowder]

No need to get rid of it. They are beneficial to your tank. Just don't pick it up with your bare hands. Myself I don't have a reaction to them but many do.

[pollywog]

Originally Posted by paddyob

Bristle worms won't hurt anything. Scavengers. Eat waste food move detritus.

Leave them.

Originally Posted by Chowder

No need to get rid of it. They are beneficial to your tank. Just don't pick it up with your bare hands. Myself I don't have a reaction to them but many do.

I'm not sure why I thought they were so bad, but I'll leave them now. Thanks for the help guys.

[subman]

Originally Posted by pollywog

I'm not sure why I thought they were so bad, but I'll leave them now. Thanks for the help guys.

Because they look like they are bad lol. People used to kill them thinking they were bad but in the end anything that eats waste is good ""

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by subman

Because they look like they are bad lol. People used to kill them thinking they were bad but in the end anything that eats waste is good ""

Yup.

If you over feed your tank you will have lots. LOTS.

But Almost everyone is going to have a few.

[Myka]

That starfish is no Asterina. I'm not sure what starfish that is, but I wouldn't trust it since most starfish are either not reef-safe or not sandbed safe.

So...if these things are all alive I'm assuming you did not quarantine or dip the corals before placing them into your tank? If that's the case, I would strongly suggest that if you aren't going to quarantine the corals that you at least start using a good coral dip to "wash" the corals of any hitchhikers that might be catching a ride. There are many hitchhikers that would cause a lot of grief. I really like CoralRx as a dip, and am not a fan or the iodine-based dips.

[Aquaria]

Unless u know ur coral is coming from a pest free tank I highly recommend coralfx as well its great stuff. Saved me from adding flatworms montipora nudibrachs etc.